I love watching reunion videos with military mamas, daddies, spouses and even adult children—showing up at unexpected times and surprising the daylights out of the people who love them most.

 

Makes me wonder about the morning Dan ended up in heaven—in the presence of The One who has always loved him best. I do imagine Dan was surprised—not at his final destination, to be sure—but by the timing; a totally unexpected departure and arrival time in our schedules—but not the Father’s.

 

Life still surprises me, but I’m ever so grateful that it never surprises God.

 

I paused for a long minute the day I saw a photo of a sculpture depicting an elderly woman stepping from this life into the next. Walking cane-balanced with arthritic hand outreached to the curtain—then bursting through to the other side; totally transformed—young strong arms stretched forward, no cane in sight, and feet racing to Jesus.

 

Reminds me of Mercy Me’s song “I Can Only Imagine”

 

…Surrounded by your glory

What will my heart feel

Will I dance for you Jesus

Or in awe of you be still

Will I stand in your presence

Or to my knees will I fall

Will I sing hallelujah

Will I be able to speak at all

I can only imagine

I can only imagine…

“However,

 

no one knows the day or hour

 

when these things will happen,

 

not even the angels in heaven

 

or the Son himself.

 

Only the Father knows.

Matthew 24:36

 

“Therefore keep watch,

 

because you do not know the day or the hour.

Matthew 25:13

 

 

 

(“Come Unto Me” by Jerry Anderson. Bronze sculpture in the Spilsbury Mortuary in St. George, UT)

 

Back in November, Faith Cora and I sowed a small meadow with 12 lbs of Texas wildflower seeds; and then—every time Lowe’s discounted the distinctive blue packages spangled with riots of color—we sowed some more. I lost count, but think we sowed in the neighborhood of 75 lbs.

 

I was ecstatic a few weeks ago when the very first periwinkle blue-shaded bloom appeared; and immediately sent Faith Cora a picture and text message via her mommy’s phone. Now, every time she visits, we explore the meadow she has named Flutter-butter’s Wildflower Surprise Garden. We find new treasures almost every single time—and the best secret to our finding is our hunting.

 

Flutter-butter’s a character in one of the story lines for a book she and I are writing; and Aunt Jessie is our illustrator. Flutter-butter has many adventures with Mr. Ladybug, a little orange-brother-butterfly named Chair Leaf, some awfully naughty baby crows, and Salt & Pepper—the squirrels who race along the fence through the honeysuckle vines. They live in the Woods of Many Colors across the river from Mr. Somebody’s Very Quiet Forest.

 

Faith Cora is quick to insert her ideas and re-direct me in the story plots and lines as I tell them. Sometimes she ends up with a starring role in the adventure; and when she bursts into giggles at particular parts, I know we’ve hit upon a treasure.

 

I’m so grateful that abundant life is permeated with treasures; and I smile to know that God, my Father, knows all about that. Over 2000 years ago, his Son sent me a key to keeping my treasures safe for all eternity:

 

 

 

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth,

 

where moth and rust destroy

 

and where thieves break in and steal,

 

but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

 

where neither moth nor rust destroys

 

and where thieves do not break in and steal.

 

For where your treasure is,

 

there your heart will be also.

 

Matthew 6:19-21

 

Because…

 

 

“No eye has seen,

 

no ear has heard,

 

and no mind has imagined

 

what God has prepared for those who love him.”

 

1 Corinthians 2:9

 

 

 

I’ve been pondering. Have I already survived the worst I’ll ever have to face; and/or, is it possible to choose to live as if the worst is now in the past?

 

This is a fallen world; no doubt about it. Bad things have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen.

 

Someone told me last week that the hardest thing she learned, following her first husband’s early death in a freak-accident, was that it didn’t make her immune from other bad things happening.

 

If there’s an upside to being blindsided, it has been experiencing firsthand that, while grief is undeniably awful; God is always with me and always takes care of me. Always.

 

Sometimes bad things happen as a result of my bad choices, but sometimes they don’t. And then sometimes, bad things happen even when I’ve made good choices. Those times are harder to sort through.

 

As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples,

 

“Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.”  

 

So they took Jesus in the boat and started out,

 

leaving the crowds behind

 

(although other boats followed).

 

But soon a fierce storm came up.

 

High waves were breaking into the boat,

 

and it began to fill with water.

 

Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat

 

with his head on a cushion.

 

The disciples woke him up, shouting,

 

“Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

 

When Jesus woke up,

 

he rebuked the wind and said to the waves,

 

“Silence! Be still!”

 

Suddenly the wind stopped,

 

and there was a great calm.

 

Then he asked them,

 

“Why are you afraid?

 

Do you still have no faith?”

Mark 4:35-40

 

If the fierce storm had roared in to punish them for some defiant disobedience, it would seem fairer; but they were right where they were supposed to be and doing exactly what Jesus had told them to do.

 

Jesus response: “Do you still have no faith” makes me think he’s comparing two different times: life before they knew him and life after. He was God immortal in their midst—doing miracles right and left—a defining pivotal point in their lives. He. Was. The. Point.  And the worst they could ever face—the life when they didn’t know him—was behind them.

 

Praise be to God, I know the very same Jesus.

 

 

I have told you all this

 

so that you may have peace in me.

 

Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.

 

But take heart,

 

because I have overcome the world.”

John 16:33